Get Your Golf Back on Track
Introduction
Golfers disagree on many things. Types of courses. Brands of ball or equipment. The speed of the greens. A diversity of opinions is one of the things that makes the game compelling.
But there is one thing that most golfers would agree on. Playing badly isn’t much fun. And when your game goes, the priority is to try to get back on track as quickly as possible.
Where to Begin?
Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to work out where the problem started, or what the cause might be. It’s like the flu. You know you’re ill and you feel terrible, but you don’t know where or when you caught the virus.
Many golfers get trapped here. They spend ages trying to figure out when things started to go wrong and how their game went off the rails. But at the end of the day, figuring out what happened isn’t really going to help. What you really want is to start feeling, or playing well again.
The sooner the better!
Is it Mental or Physical?
Firstly, stop trying to work out what caused the loss of form. It’s in the past. Working out when and where you caught a virus won’t make you feel any better, or guarantee you won’t get the flu again at some point in the future.
The priority is to find out what you need to start doing right. How do you get well again? The first thing to do is make sure you have the diagnosis correct. With the flu, it will be pretty obvious. No need to call the doctor at this stage.
With your golf, a simple question to ask is – is the problem physical or technical? Or is it mental? Am you getting in your own way?
There is a simple test you can run. If you are hitting the ball well in practice or on the range, then the problem might not be physical or technical. There might be signs of a problem with your thinking in how you feel on the course. Are you feeling anxious or insecure? Do you get angry or frustrated easily?
If you don’t have control of your shots on the driving range when you are feeling relaxed, the likelihood is some technical faults have crept into your swing or setup.
Now you have an idea of where the problem lies, you can start thinking about remedies.
Check Your Basics!
When you are unwell, the best course of action is to make sure you are doing all the simple things you need to do to give your body the chance to recover. Get plenty of rest. Stay hydrated. Eat good food. Get some fresh air.
It’s the same when you are trying to get out of a golfing slump. If you have assessed that the problem is physical or technical, the first thing to do is check your basics. Are your grip, posture, alignment and ball position all correct?
From twenty years of teaching the game, I would suggest that 90% of all swing problems start with an issue in the golfers setup. So make sure everything is as it should be.
If you need help with this, my Online Learning program ‘Prepare Like a Golf Professional’ will give you all the information you need to build a rock solid foundation for your swing.
You can find a link in the Action Steps at the bottom of the page.
What if It’s Mental?
If you are hitting the ball well in practice, you have checked the basics of your swing and everything is in order, then give yourself a pat on the back. You have narrowed down the search!
If the problem is not being able to play your best golf when you really want to, then an exploration of your thoughts and feelings when you step on the course should probably be your next move. The good news is you are in the right place!
There are a number of resources on this website. Feel free to have a look at the articles and listen to the podcast episodes. If you haven’t already done so, reading my books will give you a solid understanding of how a golfer’s mind really works.
If you’d like to get on the fast track then I highly recommend booking a discovery call. You can save a lot of time and frustration with a 30 minute conversation. You can book a time for a chat using the link below.
Conclusion
I have every sympathy with a golfer who is struggling with the game. I have spent many months in the golfing wilderness myself. Unfortunately, the golf instruction industry has lost its way over the past thirty years, and seems to be trying to solve the wrong problems in the wrong way.
Golf is a simple game, and too many people seem to be intent on making it more complicated than it needs to be, often for their own gain.
Hopefully this essay has given you some hope that there is a way out, and that with some clear thinking, a few simple steps will have you back on the fairways and enjoying the game again.
If you have any questions about what you have read, or if you would like to have a chat about your golf, please book a discovery call.
Action Steps – What to do next
1. The most efficient to get back on track is probably to book a discovery call.
2. If you aren’t ready for a conversation, a good first step is to establish whether the loss of form is mental or physical by following the diagnostic process above. This article goes into more depth about how it works.
3. If you are a self sufficient sort of golfer and you think the problem is technical, start by checking your basics with my Online Learning Program here.